Read your content aloud. Does your ideal reader laugh at your inflated language? Does she shake her head because you sound like a windbag? Or does she appreciate your words? Does she nod along because she gets what you’re talking about?

If she slams down the phone or laughs at you, rephrase and simplify your language. Pay attention to words that sound posh, exaggerated, or foreign.

Wordiness type #3: Paragraph density

Paragraph density has the same problem. No matter how good your sentences, no matter how valuable your ideas, your web visitors don’t want to start reading. Because your blog design turns them off.

This type of wordiness is the easiest to solve:

Before you hit publish, check what your blog post looks like on screen

Eliminate text blocks that are longer than 6 lines

Introduce bullet points, subheadings, and one-sentence paragraphs to add more white space. See how I’ve done that in this blog post?

Your blog post should look like nouvelle cuisine—lots of white space, and bite-sized content that keeps people snacking.

Wordiness type #4: Lack of clarity

When you start cooking, you have a recipe in mind.

You know how you want to delight and impress your dinner guests.

When you write content—whether it’s a blog post or a sales page—you also need to decide how you want to please your readers. Can you describe your message in one sentence?

Sometimes I can’t communicate a message because I haven’t discovered its essence yet. And when I don’t know the essence, how can I communicate it well?

You can find the essence of your writing in several ways:

Write to bring clarity

When your idea is fuzzy, freewriting can bring clarity. Write as fast as possible to uncover unexpected ideas. Then reverse-outline your post. What are key thoughts in your writing? And how can you create a logical flow? What’s relevant and what’s irrelevant? You can usually throw away the first few paragraphs as you were just warming up.

Get away from your computer

Take a sheet of paper and try to sketch out or scribble down your ideas. Getting away from your computer often unlocks creativity, and it can help you prioritize your messages.

Read more

Do you really understand what you’re writing about? Can you dig deeper by reading more? I don’t mean reading a few blog posts. I’m talking about reading one or two books. For my first Copyblogger guest post, for instance, I read 6 books before I started writing the post.

Lift the curse of knowledge

Sometimes we know our subject too well. We focus on details without communicating the bigger picture. We assume readers understand concepts, but they don’t. We use phrases that baffle beginners. This is when we suffer from the curse of knowledge–we lose our ability to explain our ideas to beginners.

The only way to defeat the curse of knowledge, is by listening to your readers. Encourage them to ask questions. Get on the phone to hear their thoughts. Learn what they’re struggling with, and pay attention to the phrases they use.

When you’re editing your content, step in the shoes of your reader. Does he understand your key message? Or are you distracting him with details that don’t matter?

Each piece of content should communicate one simple idea. Scrap every word that distracts. (tweet this)

I really liked this article, can’t wait to put it into practice. I find this advice extremely useful, for many fields (mine for example which is architecture). I really agree with your last statement: “Don’t write to show off your intelligence, your vocabulary, or your knowledge.” this is one of the reasons why I really like your blog 🙂

Wow. This is can be excruciating (painful) when trying to combine (mix?) it with every other tip and suggestion (idea) out there. I love writing that uses stories and allusions (oops, I meant, uh…let me think…umm…references?…no…wow…quotes?), and thought we should use them, too, but perhaps this shift to “snacking” instead of having real meals is popular and we should accommodate it. (Oh, sorry, that word was big, wasn’t it! Umm…maybe we should give in to it, right?) She sighs. Once upon a time, we simplified (made our writing more direct [to the point] and readable [easy to read] by writing as we speak. That was the rule. Since then, several writing teachers have noticed some of us actually (really) use 3- and 4-syllable (part) words all the time, even when we converse (speak) with our children. On purpose. And we like it. This probably is the most difficult (hard) lesson for me. Can you tell? 😉

Great post. This is the one thing I struggle the hardest with. I once wrote a PhD thesis knowing full well that a) nobody is going to read it from beginning to end and b) if anyone IS interested in any part, they will battle through the crap (as I have done on many occasions) to get to the bottom of the answer. Writing a blog post or email sequence is the exact opposite. It is so much harder than anything have ever done before. Thank you very much for the tips. I will definitely try them out.

When a text is easy to read, we often think a writer quickly wrote the words down. But the truth is, the simplest texts are often the hardest to write. You have to edit, edit, edit.

Asking feedback from a friend who’s not afraid to be honest can help, too. Ask them which parts they skipped (seriously consider scrapping these parts) and where they stumbled or had to re-read a sentence or paragraph (this is where you have to rewrite to simplify).

I just LOVE the way you write. You have made me very aware of long sentences full of unnecessary words. You are so right and it is so refreshing. I liked the bit about the girl next door and rambling on. It’s so true that you actually can’t follow the story and how it applies to blog posts too. Thank you for such amazing content.

I’ve been reading you for a while (even referencing you in my own writing a couple times), but until now I’ve yet to comment on your wonderful blog.

I’m remedying this right now and it’s long overdue! 🙂

This is an absolutely fantastic post, Henneke. Wordiness type #1 is a trap I fall into if I’m not careful. When I edit my posts before publishing, I often delete numerous sentences. They just don’t add any value. Oftentimes I can’t even remember writing them in the first place! I guess I was just on a roll. 🙂

“Filler words” are another type #1 problem I see a lot when reading blogs. Words like “that,” “very,” “just” and “really” can bloat a sentence without adding any tangible value. The word “that” is especially guilty of this. (I just wrote about “that” today, in fact!)

Yes, having a good editor can help a lot. It’s probably also a lot quicker as it takes more time to spot your own wordiness. Sometimes we’re too precious with the sentences we’ve composed, and it’s easier for someone else to be ruthless.

Glad you like the illustrations. I’m learning about shadows and shading – which is so interesting. I’m looking with different eyes at the world around me. 🙂

I’m not 100% sure anymore about the 6 books – it was a long time ago, but I’m sure they included Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath (one of my favorite books); Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugarman, and Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples (I’d also recommend those three), but the last two I’m not sure. Perhaps one of Dan Kennedy’s books or perhaps Andy Maslen. I would also recommend Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug, but I might have read that a little later.

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About Henneke

I never saw myself as a writer, but in my early forties, I learned how to write and discovered the joy of writing. Now, I’d like to empower you to find your voice, share your ideas and inspire your audience.Learn how I can help you